Analysis of graphic design material

ABSTRACT

The analysis of graphic design material is discussed, and a system and adaptive method to automatically analyze graphic design material are disclosed. Aspects to be measured within a document containing the graphic design material are determined. Measurements of these aspects are performed. Output is prepared, wherein the output comprises an image of a page within the document and a view of measured aspects associated with the page, wherein the view is selected from among a group of views including a semantic view, a cluster view, a graphical view, or a poster view.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority to U.S. Patent ApplicationSerial No. 60/671,268, titled “Analysis of Graphic Design Material”,filed on Apr. 14, 2005 by the same inventors, commonly assignedherewith, and hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to analysis of graphic designmaterials, and more particularly to systems and methods by which anassessment of the quality of graphic design content may be understood,evaluated and presented to a design professional in an automated manner.

BACKGROUND

Professional graphic designers are skilled in reviewing graphic designmaterial and visually identifying aspects of both good and bad designqualities. For example, by studying the printed output proof of amagazine, a graphic design professional can recognize potential problemswith design layout, fonts, formatting and other factors before movinginto press production. Such problems occur with greater frequency withinlarge, collaborative projects, wherein content is derived from aplurality of sources. In particular, where content is generated bydifferent individuals or groups, graphic designers may need to applyunifying standards to achieve a “clean” overall appearance.

However, the large quantity of graphic content generated, the highdegree of sophistication of the design aspects, and the increasingworkload on these professionals mean that it is becoming progressivelymore expensive to proofread graphic design content, i.e., more time fromhighly experienced staff is required. This is particularly true ofserial publications with hard-to-meet deadlines. In such an environment,a quality control procedure must be in place that is able to processmany pages of complex graphic design material very rapidly and veryaccurately.

Accordingly, improved systems and methods configured to analyze graphicdesign material and to provide an assessment of those materials to adesign professional in an automated manner would be well received.

SUMMARY

The analysis of graphic design material is discussed, and a system andmethod configured to automatically analyze graphic design material aredisclosed. Aspects to be measured within a document containing thegraphic design material are defined and determined. Measurements ofthese aspects are performed. Output is prepared, wherein the output fora page or a number of pages comprises an image of a page within thedocument and a view of measured aspects associated with the page,wherein the view is selected from among a group of views including asemantic view, a cluster view, a graphical view, and/or a poster view.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description refers to the accompanying figures. In thefigures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies thefigure (Fig.) in which the reference number first appears. Moreover, thesame reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to referencelike features and components.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a graphic designanalyzer.

FIG. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a poster illustrating asemantic analysis of many pages of a document, wherein one page is shownin enlarged detail.

FIG. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a poster illustrating acluster analysis of many pages of a document, wherein one page is shownin enlarged detail.

FIG. 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a poster illustrating agraphic analysis of many pages of a document, wherein one page is shownin enlarged detail.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that describes an example of a method by whichgraphic design material may be analyzed.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram that describes an example of a method by whichit may be determined which aspects are to be measured within a documentcontaining graphic design material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an example of an implementation of a graphic designanalyzer 100. The graphic design analyzer 100 is configured to analyzeaspects of the graphic design of a document in an automated fashion. Thegraphic design analyzer 100 can be configured for inclusion within aprinter or other output device, and thus may reside within the printingpipeline. Alternatively, the graphic design analyzer 100 may reside on aworkstation, server and/or other computing device. In particular, wherethe graphic design analyzer 100 is installed within, or with access to,a large format printer, e.g. a printer capable of printing on A0 paper,then the output may include a poster providing graphic design analysison a plurality of pages of a large document.

In the example of FIG. 1, input data 102 containing graphic designmaterials are sent to the graphic design analyzer 100. Input data 102may be organized in any of a variety of formats. For example, the inputdata may include a data file (e.g. a PDF file (Adobe's® portabledocument format)) or may include hardcopies (printed-paper input). Theinput data 102 are processed by the graphic design analyzer 100 tocreate output, illustrated in the example of FIG. 1 as a visual analysis104. The visual analysis 104 may take many forms, including a semanticanalysis, a cluster analysis or an advertising analysis. The visualanalysis 104 may be printed on a large format media (e.g. A0 size paper)to facilitate proofing of the layout consistency, and as a means toensure the overall graphic design quality. Non-expert users of thesystem can verify, learn and decide on the quality of material simply bylooking at the output provided by the visual analysis 104, which may beprinted in a poster format, e.g. A0 size paper. When printing in aposter format, a reduced size image of each page within the inputdocument 102 may be printed together (e.g. side-by-side) with a view ofmeasured aspects associated with that page. As will be discussed below,the view may include a semantic view, a cluster view or a graphical view(e.g. an advertising analysis).

In the example of FIG. 1, the graphic design analyzer 100 includesseveral component parts. The component parts are illustrated to providea preferred configuration; however, considerable rearrangement of thecomponent parts could be resorted to, while still practicing the instantdisclosure. A document preparation module 106 is configured to providemeasurable data in an expected format to a document measurement module110. A configuration module 108 is configured to provide to the documentmeasurement module 110 definitions governing aspects within the inputdata 102 to be measured. The document measurement module 110 isconfigured to make the actual measurements in an automated fashion, andto pass the output to the visual preparation module 112. The visualpreparation module 112 is configured to create output, typically in aprinted format such as visual analysis 104, indicating the results ofthe graphic design analysis.

In the example of FIG. 1, the document preparation module 106 includes ascanning module 114 and a parsing module 116. The scanning module 114may be configured in several different ways, depending on theparticulars of the application. For example, the scanning module 114 maybe configured to receive data from an optical scanning device, such asare used when scanning hard copies of printed documents. Alternatively,the scanning module 114 may be configured to open and scan data filescontaining documents, such as documents in the PDF format. In eithercase (or alternative implementations), the scanning module 114 obtainsgraphic design content. The graphic design content obtained is convertedinto a data file format or data structure that can be parsed and furtherprocessed.

In the example of FIG. 1, the parsing module 116 is configured to parsethe data obtained by the scanning module 114. The parsing processidentifies elements for potential measurement. Such elements includewords, lines, images, zones and clusters of zones. Zones may be definedin a flexible manner, according to the specific configuration of thegraphic design analyzer. For example, zones may include areas of relatedtext and/or images, such as an article or a portion thereof. Thus, byparsing the data obtained from the scanning module 114, the parsingmodule 116 identifies and catalogs the element within the data forpossible measurement, classification and/or display.

The configuration module 108 provides the document measurement module110 with definitions governing aspects within the input to be measured.The configuration module 108 may be customized to a user, such as agraphics design professional, to include those aspects of graphic designthe user would like to measure within the document. Alternatively, theuser may elect to allow the configuration module 108 to default to astandard group of aspects to be measured. In the example of FIG. 1, theconfiguration module 108 includes a semantic definition 118 and ametrics definition 120. The user may customize either definition, oraccept either definition's default values. The semantic definition 118defines the use of zones and arrows or other indicators used to performa semantic analysis (discussed more fully with respect to FIG. 2). Thesemantic analysis provides an overview by which the logical andsequential flow of reading is displayed from zone to zone within adocument. This analysis helps, among other things, to predict the easeby which readers of the content will be able to recognize factorsgoverning legibility, e.g. the intended sequence by which the variouszones are intended to be read.

The metrics definition 120 includes information on what type ofmeasurements should be made. In most applications, the metricsdefinition can be rather lengthy, and enumerates aspects that have animpact on graphic design quality. For example, many aspects may beincluded within the metrics definition 120, a small number of whichinclude: the number of zones per page; the number of advertising zones(zones containing advertising); the average number of text lines perzone; the text density in different areas (such as zones or pages); theaverage font size; the number of different fonts in one or more areas;measurements of font variability; etc. Specific implementations of themetrics definition would depend on the needs of the user, and thereforethe metrics definition 120 could be adjusted to fit the needs of anyspecific application.

The document measurement module 110 is configured to make the actualmeasurements, in an automated fashion, of the scanned and parseddocument received from the document preparation module 106. Themeasurements are made according to the directions of the configurationsmodule 108. Accordingly, the document measurement module 110 receivesinput from the document preparation module 106 and the configurationmodule 108, and provides output to the visual preparation module 112.

In the example of FIG. 1, the document measurement module 110 makesmeasurements of the scanned and parsed document of two general types,i.e. tailored measurements 122 and automatic measurements 124. Thetailored measurements 122 are made in response to the specialized needsof the specific graphic design analysis, which may differ from moregeneralized examples of graphic design analysis. For example, in anacademic publication, there may be a specific need to measure the use offootnotes. Accordingly, the measurement of footnotes would be includedwithin the tailored measurements 122. Such measurements would might notbe generally be made, since footnotes are not present in most commercialpublications of the popular press.

In the example of FIG. 1, the automatic measurements module 124 makesmeasurements of aspects typically present in most graphic designmaterial. For example, the automatic measurements include thosemeasurements made in response to the semantic definition 118 and themetrics definition 120.

The visual preparation module 112 is configured to create output,typically in a printed format, indicating the results of the graphicdesign analysis. When output is printed in a poster format on large sizepaper, many pages of the input document, together with a graphic designanalysis of each page, will be printed on a single page of the output.The output typically includes a copy of a page of the input documentprinted in a reduced size, side-by-side the analysis of the graphicdesign of that page. Typically, the analysis of the graphic designincludes the measurements made by the document measurement module 110.In the example of FIG. 1, the visual preparation module 112 includesfour component parts, the semantic viewer 126, the cluster viewer 128,the graph viewer 130 and the poster viewer 132.

The semantic viewer 126 creates output, an example of which is seen inFIG. 2, wherein the document is annotated (such as by use of arrows) toindicate the logic (or lack thereof) of the sequence, size, shape andpositioning of the zones within which content is contained. Inparticular, output indicating the ease (or difficulty) by which a viewerof the document may understand the relationship of the zones—includingparticularly their sequential relationship—is presented. Thus, byviewing the output (e.g. FIG. 2) of the semantic viewer 126, it mayquickly be understood whether the zones of the document are shaped,arranged and positioned in a manner that is consistent with good graphicdesign practice. In one implementation of the semantic viewer 126, theoutput includes the use of arrows that rapidly convey information toanyone reviewing the quality of the semantic design. In particular, thearrows disclose, to the viewer of the graphic design analysis, a path,i.e. a logical reading order, “flow” or “text flow,” that the readermust follow when reading the content included within a plurality ofzones. Thus, a simple arrow pattern having a conventional appearancetypically indicates that the reader will have little difficulty infinding the next zone in a sequence of zones. A more complex arrowpattern may indicate, to the viewer of the graphic design output, thatthe reader may have trouble in finding a second zone upon completion ofa first a zone. Additionally, a large number of arrows and/or an unusualarrow pattern can also indicate that graphic design will not result in asatisfactory experience for the reader. Accordingly, the semantic viewer126 provides a graphic design analysis that is a measurement of thequality of the graphic design of the input document.

The cluster viewer 128 creates output, an example of which is seen inFIG. 3, wherein the document is annotated (such as by use of color tohighlight zones) to indicate the logic (or lack thereof) of thesimilarity of the graphic design of the different zones within whichcontent is contained. In particular, output indicating the relationshipof the zones—including, for example, their consistent use of fonts andformatting—is presented. Thus, by viewing the output (e.g. FIG. 3) ofthe cluster viewer 128, it may quickly be understood whether the zonesof the document include consistent use of font type, font size,paragraph formatting and other graphic variables in a manner that isconsistent with good graphic design practice. In one implementation ofthe cluster viewer 128, the output includes the use of color or hashmarks that rapidly convey information to anyone reviewing the quality ofthe semantic design. For example, the color or hash marks provide readyconfirmation of the similarity of the font, formatting and other aspectsof different zones, allowing the viewer to understand quickly whether aconsistent graphic design strategy has been followed. In particular,like colors or hash marks applied to two (or more) zones indicate likegraphic design, e.g. like fonts, font sizes, formatting, etc. However,dissimilar colors or hash marks applied to two (or more) zones indicatedifferences in the graphic design of the zones, perhaps indicatingdifferences in the fonts, font sizes or formatting. Thus, the clusterviewer 128 provides an efficient way in which to evaluate aspects ofgraphics design quality.

The graph viewer 130 creates output, an example of which is seen in FIG.4, wherein a plurality of indices, such as numerals, Boolean characters,alpha numeric characters and/or bar graphs are used to indicate aspectsof the graphic design of a page (or other portion) of a document. Inparticular, aspects such as number of zones, number of advertisingzones, average lines of text per zone, font variability/page, and otheraspects, are presented. Thus, by viewing the output (e.g. FIG. 4) of thegraph viewer 130, a plurality of valuable indices, that would otherwiserequired time and diligent effort on the part of a graphic designprofessional to produce, may be seen and quickly understood. In oneimplementation of the graph viewer 130, the output includes acombination of bar graphs and numeric or Boolean values that rapidlyconvey information to anyone reviewing the quality of the graphicdesign. Thus, bar graphs allow the viewer to understand quickly manyimportant facts about the graphic design content of a document.

The poster viewer 132 creates output, examples of which are seen inFIGS. 2-4, wherein reduced size (e.g. ‘thumbnail’) views of manydifferent pages of a document are shown simultaneously on a large formatprintout. Each page is displayed with a counterpart, selected from amongthose created by the semantic viewer 126, the cluster viewer 128 or thegraph viewer 130. Therefore, the poster viewer 132 creates outputconfigured for viewing a plurality of pages from within a document,along with a counterpart associated with each page that conveys graphicdesign information associated with that page. Accordingly, the posterviewer 132 may be used to create poster views associated with thesemantic view, the cluster view or the graph view produced by thesemantic viewer 126, the cluster viewer 128 and the graph viewer 130,respectively.

FIG. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a poster 200 illustratinga semantic analysis of many pages 202 associated with the input data 102(FIG. 1). The semantic output 204 associated with a single page isenlarged to show detail. Referring momentarily to FIG. 1, the semanticoutput 204 may have been generated by the semantic viewer 126, usinginstructions given by the semantic definition 118. Returning to FIG. 2,the semantic output 204 includes a reproduction 206 of the content ofthe page, as well as a semantic counterpart to the original content,i.e. the semantic view 208. The semantic view 208 includes the contentof the original document, and is additionally annotated to illustratethe logical flow, or sequence, by which zones within the page are read.In particular, demarcation of the zones (e.g. zones 210, 212 and 214) isshown by a perimeter line. The demarked zone may include a single word(e.g. a title) or several related paragraphs of text. Note that thezones could alternatively be indicated by color, hash marks, or anyother method, as desired. The sequence by which a reader will traversethe zones is shown by arrows 216-220. The semantic output may alsoinclude a designator 222 and barcode 224, which allow the user to findthe original page within the original document. For example, thedesignator indicates that the page in question is from page 20 of aperiodical publication published on Mar. 10, 1923.

The semantic definition 118 (FIG. 1) may also include rules for definingzones within the document and rules for linking at least some of thezones with arrows. Additionally, rules may govern the interpretation ofthe arrows linking the zones. In particular, the rules may recognizesome configurations of zones and arrows that probably represent poorgraphic design. For example, the semantic definition 118 (FIG. 1) mayinclude rules governing maximum numbers of zones and arrows per page,since a page that is too complex may represent poor graphic design. Sucha rule would flag overly complex pages, wherein the user is presentedwith a maze of zones, and wherein the sequence by which the zones are tobe read is not clear.

FIG. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a poster 300 illustratinga cluster analysis of many pages 302 associated with the input data 102(FIG. 1). The cluster output 304 associated with a single page isenlarged to show detail. The cluster output 304 may have been generatedby the cluster viewer 128 (FIG. 1). The cluster output 304 includes areproduction 306 of the content of the page, as well as a clustercounterpart to the original content, i.e. the cluster view 308. Thecluster view 308 includes the content of the original document, and isadditionally annotated to illustrate the similarities and differencesbetween the zones within the page. In particular, the zones (e.g. zones310-318) are defined within the cluster view 308, wherein each zone mayinclude a single word (e.g. a title) or several related paragraphs oftext. Note that the zones could be indicated by color, line marking orother indicia, as desired. It is a significant aspect of the clusterview 308 that zones having similar or the same font type, font size,line spacing (and/or other characteristics as defined and desired) aresimilarly colored or otherwise indicated. Conversely, zones havingdifferent design characteristics will be differently colored or shaded.This allows a graphics design professional, by quickly confirm that twozones have the same color (or line markings), to confirm that anarbitrarily defined list of characteristics, such as font size or linespacing, is the same between the zones. Note that the configurationmodule 108 (FIG. 1) can be configured to set the arbitrarily definedlist of characteristics to any set of characteristics desired. Suchcharacteristics typically involve font type, font size, paragraphformatting (e.g. indentation, justification, line spacing, etc.), andother aspects.

FIG. 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a poster 400 illustratinga graphic analysis 402 associated with the input data 102 (FIG. 1). Thegraphic output 404 associated with a single page is enlarged to showdetail. The graphic output 404 may have been generated by the graphicviewer 130 (FIG. 1). The graphic output 404 includes a reproduction 406of the content of the page, as well as a graphic counterpart to theoriginal content, i.e. the graphic view 408. The graphic view 408includes a list 410 of aspects, such as number of zones, number ofadvertising zones, etc., which have been measured by the documentmeasurement module 110. Associated the list 410 of measured aspects is alist 412 of measured values. In particular, each measured aspect 414 onthe list 410 is associated with a measured value 416 on list 412.Additionally, the measured value 416 may be associated with a graphicalview, such as a bar graph 418.

An aspect labeled “page detection” 420 refers to whether or not anadvertisement has been detected on the page. In the implementation ofFIG. 4, measurement of page detection 420 is a Boolean function, whereina block 422 may be red (or otherwise depicted) if an advertisement isdetected, and green (or otherwise depicted) if no advertisement isdetected. Detection of an advertisement is a threshold question, in thatdifferent graphic design rules tend to apply to advertisements than areapplied to articles.

FIGS. 5 and 6 describe the operation of the system 100 of FIG. 1 inflowchart form. To facilitate discussion, certain operations aredescribed as constituting distinct steps performed in a certain order.Such implementations are exemplary and non-limiting. Certain stepsdescribed herein can be grouped together and performed in a singleoperation, and certain steps can be performed in an order that differsfrom the order employed in the examples set forth in this disclosure. Inparticular, the flow charts of FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a furtherexemplary implementations, wherein a method 500 is employed to analyzegraphic design material and wherein a method 600 is employed todetermine which aspects are to be measured within a document containinggraphic design material. The elements of the method may be performed byany desired means, such as by the execution of processor-readableinstructions defined on a processor-readable media, such as a disk, aROM or other memory device or by operation of an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) or other hardware device. In oneimplementation, the ROM may contain firmware implementing the graphicdesign analyzer module 100 of FIG. 1 according to an exemplary method asseen in the flow chart of FIGS. 5 and 6. In an alternativeimplementation, an ASIC may contain logic that implements the graphicdesign analyzer module 100 according to an exemplary method as seen inthe flow chart of FIGS. 5 and 6. While the blocks are describedsequentially, the actions described in any block may be performed inparallel with actions described in other blocks, may occur in analternate order, or may be distributed in a manner that associatesactions with more than one other block.

Referring to FIG. 5, at block 502, a document is created containinggraphic design material. The document may be created by the documentpreparation module 106 of FIG. 1, or an alternative structure. Thedocument creation may be performed using one or more techniques, two ofwhich are listed here, and others of which are seen within otherlocations of this specification, or may be envisioned in light of theteachings herein. At block 504, input is scanned to produce data forstorage within the document in an XML format. The scanning process mayinclude optical scanning of a printed document, or electronic scanningof a document in a format such as PDF (Adobe's® portable documentformat). For example, the scanning module 114 of FIG. 1 is adapted toscan a printed document, and to produce data in any desired format, suchas XML. Additionally or alternatively, at block 506, the document isparsed to identify aspects for potential measurement, wherein theidentified aspects comprise words, lines, images, zones and clusters ofzones. As an example, the parsing module 116 of FIG. 1 is configured toparse a document, such as an XML document, and identify aspects formeasurement.

At block 508, aspects to be measured within a document containing thegraphic design material are determined. In the example of FIG. 1, theconfiguration module 108 is configured to determine aspects within thedocument to be measured. As discussed, the semantic definition 118 andthe metrics definition 120 may be used to configure the graphic designanalyzer 100 to measure the aspects of the document that are ofparticular concern.

At block 510, the aspects, determined at block 508, are measured. Thismay be performed in a number of ways, two of which are listed here, andothers of which are seen within other locations of this specification,or may be envisioned in light of the teachings herein. For example, atblock 512, automatic measurements are made according to a semanticsdefinition 118 (FIG. 1) and a metrics definition (120 FIG. 1). Forexample, the measurements may configure zones within the document, orutilize zones already configured within the document. The automaticmeasurements may include measurement and/or identification of fonts,font sizes and font families. The automatic measurements may measurefont characteristics, including inter-character spacing or kerning, fontencodings, and any other spacing properties such as inter-word,inter-line, inter-paragraph, indenting, etc. Additionally oralternatively, at block 514 tailored measurements are made, which mayinclude measurements specifically applicable to the document. Forexample, when processing legal documents a measurement can bespecifically defined that is consistent with legal filing requirements.

At block 516, output including an image of a page within the documentand a view of measured aspects associated with the page is prepared. Theoutput may include an image of a page within the document and a view ofmeasured aspects associated with the page. In particular, the measuredaspects associated with the page may be selected from among the semanticview, the cluster view, the graphical view and/or the poster view.Examples of the semantic view, the cluster view and the graphical vieware seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Examples of the poster vieware seen in FIGS. 2-4. In one implementation, when the page includesadvertising, aspects of preparing the output may be refined. Inparticular, at block 518, advertising is distinguished from otherportions of the document. At block 520, an advertising analysis, in somecases including bar graphs detailing the measured aspects is prepared.An example of this type of analysis is seen at 408 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram 600 that describes an example of a method bywhich it may be determined which aspects are to be measured within adocument containing graphic design material. Accordingly, aspects of thediscussion of FIG. 6 may be viewed as an expansion of the discussion ofblock 508 of FIG. 5.

At block 602, one or more pre-defined aspects are selected from a listof potential aspects to be measured. Examples of the aspects presentedto a user on the list include font type measurements, font sizemeasurements, line spacing measurements, etc. Because many aspects ofgraphics design are routinely checked, it is convenient to have a listof pre-defined aspects, from which a user may select. The selection maybe incorporated into standard user interface dialog boxes, and providesan efficient mechanism by which the user can select from among manypotential aspects to be measured.

At block 604, a semantic definition is configured. In the example ofFIG. 1, the configuration module 108 configures a semantic definition118. Configuration of the semantics definition may be performed in anumber of ways, two of which are listed here, and others of which areseen within other locations of this specification, or may be envisionedin light of the teachings herein. For example, at block 606 zones withinthe document are configured, wherein the zones include: titles, textblocks, tables, graphics and photos/pictures, and/or other structures.At block 608, arrows are configured linking at least some of the zonesaccording to a logical reading order. An example of such a logical ordermay be seen in FIG. 2 wherein, the zones 212 and 214 are linked by thearrow 218, thereby indicating that the reader is to continue to zone 214upon completion of zone 212. At block 610, rules governing acceptablearrow and zone configuration are developed. These rules may includerules governing the number of arrows and zones per page.

At block 612, a metrics definition is configured. In the example of FIG.1, the configuration module 108 configures a metrics definition 120.Configuration of the metrics definition may be performed in a number ofways, three of which are listed here, and others of which are seenwithin other locations of this specification, or may be envisioned inlight of the teachings herein. For example, at block 614 a metricsdefinition is configured to include a number of zones per page. At block616, a metrics definition is configured to include a number of differentfonts used per page. And, at block 618, a metrics definition isconfigured to include a number of font sizes used per page. Otheraspects, including graphics, images, formatting and others couldadditionally be included within a definition.

Although the above disclosure has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological steps, it is to be understoodthat the appended claims are not limited to the specific features orsteps described. Rather, the specific features and steps are exemplaryforms by which this disclosure may be implemented. For example, whileactions described in blocks of the flow diagrams may be performed inparallel with actions described in other blocks, the actions may occurin an alternate order, or may be distributed in a manner whichassociates actions with more than one other block. And further, whileelements of the methods disclosed are intended to be performed in anydesired manner, it is anticipated that computer- or processor-readableinstructions, performed by a computer and/or processor, typicallylocated on a printer (or possibly a workstation, server or othercomputer device), reading from a computer- or processor-readable media,such as a ROM, disk or CD ROM, would be preferred, but that anapplication specific gate array (ASIC) or similar hardware structure,could be substituted.

1. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executableinstructions for analysis of graphic design material, thecomputer-executable instructions comprising instructions for:determining aspects to be measured within a document containing thegraphic design material; measuring the aspects as determined; andpreparing output comprising an image of a page within the document and aview of measured aspects associated with the page, wherein the view isselected from among a group of views comprising: a semantic view; acluster view; a graphical view; or a poster view.
 2. The one or moremedia of claim 1, wherein determining aspects to be measured comprisesselecting one or more pre-defined aspects from a list of potentialaspects to be measured.
 3. The one or more media of claim 1, whereindetermining aspects to be measured comprises: configuring a semanticdefinition, comprising: zones within the document, wherein the zonescomprise: titles; graphics, pictures, tables and text blocks; and arrowslinking at least some of the zones according to a logical reading order;and configuring a metrics definition comprising: a number of zones perpage; a number of different fonts used per page; and a number of fontsizes used per page.
 4. The one or more media of claim 1, whereinmeasuring the aspects comprises: making automatic measurements accordingto a semantics definition and a metrics definition, wherein theautomatic measurements comprise: configuring zones within the document;and identifying fonts, font sizes, font families, and fontcharacteristics including inter-character spacing; and making tailoredmeasurements comprising measurements specifically applicable to thedocument.
 5. The one or more media of claim 1, wherein: the semanticview comprises: demarcation of a plurality of zones, wherein thedemarcation of each zone is indicated by a perimeter line; and an arrow,indicating a sequential reading direction between two of the pluralityof zones; the graphical view provides an advertisement analysis,comprising bar graphs for data points comprising: page detection; numberof zones; advertising zones; and font data; and the cluster viewcomprises: demarcation of a plurality of zones, wherein the demarcationof each zone is indicated by color; wherein use of a same color withintwo zones implies similarity between the fonts used within the twozones.
 6. The one or more media of claim 1, wherein the poster viewcomprises a plurality of pages from the document, each page associatedwith a counterpart; and wherein the counterpart is selected from amongthe semantic view, the graphical view and the cluster view.
 7. The oneor more media of claim 1, wherein preparing the output comprises:distinguishing advertising from other portions of the document; andpreparing an advertising analysis, comprising bar graphs detailingmeasured aspects.
 8. The one or more media of claim 1, additionallycomprising creating the document containing graphic design material,wherein the creating comprises: scanning input to produce data forstorage within the document in an XML format; and parsing the documentto identify aspects for potential measurement, wherein the identifiedaspects comprise words, lines, images, zones and clusters of zones. 9.One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executableinstructions for analysis of graphic design material, thecomputer-executable instructions comprising instructions for: creating adocument containing the graphic design material in a format consistentwith measurement of aspects of the graphic design material; determiningwhich of the aspects to measure; measuring the aspects as determined;and preparing output of the measured aspects comprising a view selectedfrom among a group of views comprising: a semantic view; a cluster view;a graphical view; or a poster view.
 10. The one or more media of claim9, wherein creating the document comprises: scanning input to producedata for storage within the document in a format suitable for parsing;and parsing the document to identify potentially measurable aspects. 11.The one or more media of claim 9, wherein determining which of theaspects to measure comprises: selecting one or more pre-defined aspectsfrom a list of potential aspects to be measured; configuring a semanticdefinition, comprising: rules defining zones within the document and forlinking at least some of the zones with arrows, wherein the linking isperformed according to a logical reading order; and rules governingacceptable semantic graphic design, comprising rules governing maximumnumbers of zones and arrows per page; configuring a metrics definitioncomprising an inventory of zones, fonts, and graphics.
 12. The one ormore media of claim 9, wherein measuring the aspects determinedcomprises: making automatic measurements according to a semanticsdefinition and a metrics definition, wherein the automatic measurementscomprise: configuring zones within the document; and identifying fonts,font sizes, and font characteristics; and making tailored measurementscomprising measurements specifically applicable to the document.
 13. Theone or more media of claim 9, wherein: the semantic view comprises:demarcation of a plurality of zones, wherein the demarcation of eachzone is indicated by a perimeter line; and an arrow, indicating textflow from a first of the plurality of zones to a second of the pluralityof zones; the graphical view provides an advertisement analysis,comprising bar graphs for data points comprising: page detection; numberof zones; advertising zones; and font data; the cluster view comprises:demarcation of a plurality of zones, wherein the demarcation of eachzone is indicated by color; wherein use of a same color within two zonesimplies similarity between the fonts used within the two zones; and theposter view comprises: a plurality of pages from the document, each pageassociated with a counterpart; wherein the counterpart is selected fromamong the semantic view, the graphical view and the cluster view. 14.The one or more media of claim 9, wherein preparing the outputcomprises: distinguishing advertising from other portions of thedocument; and preparing, when advertising is distinguished, anadvertising analysis, comprising bar graphs detailing measured aspects.15. A graphic design analyzer, comprising: a document preparation moduleto scan input data to produce a document within which aspects may beidentified for measurement; a configuration module to determine which ofthe identified aspects will be measured; a document measurement moduleto measure, according to the determination, aspects within the document;and a visual preparation module to prepare output comprising an image ofa page within the document and a view of measured aspects associatedwith the page, wherein the view is selected from among a group of viewscomprising: a semantic view; a cluster view; a graphical view; or aposter view.
 16. The graphic design analyzer of claim 15, wherein theconfiguration module comprises configurations for: selecting one or morepre-defined aspects from a list of potential aspects to be measured;configuring a semantic definition, comprising: rules defining zoneswithin the document and for linking at least some of the zones witharrows, wherein the linking is performed according to a logical readingorder; and rules governing acceptable semantic graphic design,comprising rules governing maximum numbers of zones and arrows per page;and configuring a metrics definition comprising an inventory of zones,fonts and graphics.
 17. The graphic design analyzer of claim 15, whereinthe document measurement module comprises configurations for: makingautomatic measurements according to a semantics definition and a metricsdefinition, wherein the automatic measurements comprise: configuringzones within the document; and identifying fonts and font sizes; alogical reading flow; and making tailored measurements comprisingmeasurements specifically applicable to the document.
 18. The graphicdesign analyzer of claim 15, wherein the visual preparation modulecomprises configurations for: distinguishing advertising from otherportions of the document; and preparing an advertising analysis,comprising bar graphs detailing measured aspects.
 19. The graphic designanalyzer of claim 15, wherein: the semantic view comprises: demarcationof a plurality of zones, wherein the demarcation of each zone isindicated by a perimeter line; and an arrow, indicating text flow from afirst of the plurality of zones to a second of the plurality of zones;the graphical view provides an advertisement analysis, comprising bargraphs for data points comprising: page detection; number of zones;advertising zones; and font data; and the cluster view comprises:demarcation of a plurality of zones, wherein the demarcation of eachzone is indicated by color; and wherein use of a same color within twozones implies similarity between the fonts used within the two zones.20. The graphic design analyzer of claim 15, wherein the poster viewcomprises a plurality of pages from the document, each page associatedwith a counterpart; and wherein the counterpart is selected from amongthe semantic view, the graphical view and the cluster view.